First of the New

I took a lot of photographs last year and 'processed' very few. 'Processing' may seem the wrong word to use in association with digital photography, but with these images the process is one of selection and pairing, and, of course, making sure that the exposure and colour appears correct. It always takes longer than I think, and so I'm working through a backlog of some 2000 shots to put together what I hope will be around 200 new images. Of which about 20 will be corkers, I'm sure! One of the downsides with digital is that it encourages you to take too many pictures - it's too easy to snap away without considering each shot as carefully as one might if film were being wasted. That can also be a benefit when you have your family with you, wanting you to 'look at this' and 'hurry up!' - I suppose the trick is to find a balance, to shoot plenty and to consider all... I have lost some good shots, some great hearts, because I hurried too much and didn't consider the edges of the shot with enough care, or ended up with things in the distance on the landscape shot that I didn't want, things like people walking by. And I won't crop, and I won't edit... more on that another time.

This shot is great (in my humble opinion) - spotted by my then 5 year old son Sunny in a side street in Florence. The broken heart and the use of English is just lovely, and the textures of the surfaces deserve a closer look - I've yet to print this on a large scale, but I'm looking forward to it. It's a romantic image, but also fits the cliche of the passionate Italian expression of love and love lost.

Oi, Romeo - on yer bike!